South Side abduction: Man shoots, kills one of his captors, police say

'Nothing like this has ever happened to me. I work a 9-to-5 job at an insurance company'

December 24, 2009|By Pat Curry, Chicago Tribune and Tribune reporters David Heinzmann and Annie Sweeney contributed to this report.

The victim said he got lucky when his captors got careless with the gun.

He lived; one of them died. And police are looking for the four who got away.

The South Side man said he shot the robber Tuesday night in an incident that started when a car pulled up to the curb while he was walking through his neighborhood.

"I'm walking to the store minding my own business, and a car full of juveniles pull their car to the side," said the 31-year-old man, who asked not to be named because the suspects were still at large. "A guy gets out pointing a gun at me to get in the car and says we're going to the ATM. There's a bunch of people in there -- I'm not going to argue."

Chicago police said they have corroborated details of the man's account with witnesses.

One police official said the man won't face any charges. He said he told the man, "You're either lucky or you're crazy."

The incident happened just after 11 p.m. Tuesday near 47th Street and King Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

The victim said he was ordered into the front seat of the car with the driver while the others sat in the back.

"So we're circling the block. They're talking about going back to my house, getting my flat screen. ... I'm thinking this must be a dream, nothing like this has ever happened to me. I work a 9-to-5 job at an insurance company," he said.

The robbers drove him to Maggie's Gyros, 349 E. 47th St., where two of them went in with his wallet, ATM card and PIN, he said.

"I had to give them my PIN number because the driver told me if I was lying, they'd shoot me. And I believed them," he said. "We drove around the block, and then a third guy wants to know if I have a checking account or a savings account. So after I tell him, he gets out at the restaurant."

That left the victim sitting in the front passenger seat, the driver holding a gun on him and a woman in the back seat.

They pulled into an alley. As they bumped along the snowy path, the woman told the driver to toss her the gun because she didn't want police to see it, he said.

"All of a sudden, by the grace of God, between these two fools, I hear 'boom,' and then I hear her hollering and screaming, 'I shot my finger off, I shot it off.' The driver starts panicking and he goes right into a Dumpster," the victim said. "That's when I knew it was my moment."

The victim wanted to grab the gun and get out of the car. But as he reached to the back seat to take the weapon, he was also fumbling with the seat belt release and fending off the driver.

"My adrenaline was pumping. I reach over the seat and go to get the gun. I got the driver kicking at me, and I'm fighting for the gun with the woman. One arm is fending off his kicks, the other is trying to get this gun," he said. "I finally get it and point it at the driver, about 6 inches away from his abdomen. I pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. So I'm thinking, oh, man, I have to get out of here."

He said he rolled out of the car and started running down the alley. The woman got out and chased him.

"I don't know if she's going to kill me or not, so I fire a warning shot," the man said. "Unfortunately, it hit her. I never fired a gun in my life."

Barbara McComb, 21, of the 4200 block of South Calumet Avenue, was later pronounced dead in Stroger Hospital.

The man ran out of the alley, still holding the gun, and started yelling at people in the gyros shop that he needed a police officer.

"I'm waving this gun around because I talk with my hands," he said. "Well, all these people in the restaurant think I'm the bad guy and start ducking under their tables and screaming. So I got to run out of there."

He flagged down a CTA truck, whose occupants were also fearful of the armed man, and then spotted a police car and waved it down.

"I put my hands on the hood, told them I had a gun in my pocket, and that (some) men tried to rob me. So they came out, cuffed me, took me back to the station so I could tell my story."

The man said he feels badly that the woman died, saying he only meant to warn her. "But my blood was pumping so fast and my adrenaline ..."

The man spent the rest of the day at his grandmother's home.

The tale of mayhem left his grandmother badly shaken, he said, "So I'm calling in sick and taking care of her. Those few minutes felt like forever. I'm glad it's over. I just want my life to be normal."

The man said the only injury he suffered was a welt under his left eye. The robbers got his wallet and $12, he said.

Police said witnesses in the gyros restaurant and other locations corroborated details of the man's story, and that damage to a Dumpster in the alley was consistent with a car hitting it.

Andrew Holmes, who works for the city of Chicago, said he was parking a truck Tuesday night outside the restaurant, grabbing lunch with two other workers, when he heard gunfire.

"Then we looked up a second later, (and) the guy was running out of the alley with a gun. He was yelling, 'I just been robbed, please call the police.'"

Holmes said he got on his phone while the man went inside the restaurant, still holding the gun. "People started ducking. Then he left. ... I called 911 again and told them his description, what pocket his gun was in, and what direction he was heading."

Police plan to view several surveillance cameras in the area, including one at the restaurant. They said the four suspects still at large face robbery and possible murder charges in connection with the woman's death.

----------

Pat Curry is a WGN-TV reporter.

Keep up with latest crime

Search crime stats from the Chicago Police Department at chicagotribune.com/crime